Fairy and Otherkin an Introduction
In the world of Detective Docherty trying to keep track of all the fairy and magickal creatures can get pretty confusing. What makes an elf a fairy? What is an otherkin? Where did they all come from? Let's start at the beginning... Scientists speculate that the fairy world or otherworld collapsed, leaving many magickal creatures trapped in the human world. This event was called The Great Awakening. Prior to the event, both worlds existed separately (after a split sometime before the middle ages). It is believed that almost all fairy lived in the otherworld prior to its collapse, but were still able to visit the human world. While almost all fairy and most magickal creatures ended up in the otherworld, some remained in the human. Magickal creatures such as dragons, werewolves, and vampires, are commonly referred to as "otherkin." They are considered to be the "other kin" of fairies. While greater otherkin such as dragons and gryphons separated into the otherworld, lesser otherkin such as vampires and werewolves remained in the human. Modern science, in its attempt to classify these new species, has divided magickal creatures into two main groups :Otherkin, which includes creatures such as gryphons, werewolves, vampires, dragons, and unicorns etc, as well as other magickal creatures that not are not a part of the European fairy family. The second group, Fairy, includes: elves, brownies, leprechauns, sprites, and pixies etc. The fairy family is large and diverse, however at present, all magickal creatures that come from Europe, apart from beasts such as dragons and unicorns, are classified as fairies. Classification within the European fairy family alone is chaos at best, primarily due to the fact that the majority of fairy are shapeshifters. In addition, old tales and mythologies often change or confuse terms. For example, while historically brownies have been referred to as hobs or hobgoblins, they are not actually goblins. Because of this, further research is underway. It has become largely accepted that otherkin, while categorized in the same group, operate independently of each other. European fairies on the other hand primarily belong to one of two major groups: The Seelie and Unseelie courts. The Seelie court is thought to be comprised of “good” fairies, while the Unseelie court is made up of “bad” fairies. This being said, members on both sides of the courts have proven to be helpful and harmful in stories and legend. Unseelie are often described as ugly and scary, and yet many of them are just as beautiful as members of the Seelie court. Traditionally, fairy are born into one court or the other, however, recent studies show that some fairy have elected to be free of either court, while others have actually switched from one to the other. To further complicate things, at one point in the Detective Docherty series, a new court of fairies arises-- but no spoilers on that one ;) All confusion aside, the fairy and otherkin groups are filled with magnificent creatures. Large or small, good or bad, and they each have their own beauty and magick. In order to help shed some light on this largely confusing subject that only the Detective seems to understand, I've composed two lists showing where each of these beauties go: Fairy List Otherkin List